The present invention relates to a recombinant yeast cell having the ability to produce a desired fermentation product, to the construction of said yeast cell by genetic modification and to a process for producing a fermentation product wherein said yeast cell is used.
Ethanol production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae is currently, by volume, the single largest fermentation process in industrial biotechnology. A global research effort is underway to expand the substrate range of S. cerevisiae to include lignocellulosic hydrolysates, in particular hydrolysed lignocellulosic biomass from non-food feedstocks (e.g. energy crops and agricultural residues, forestry residues or industrial/consumer waste materials that are rich in cellulose, hemicellulose and/or pectin) and to increase productivity, robustness and product yield.
Lignocellulosic biomass is abundant, however is in general not readily fermented by wild-type ethanol producing micro-organisms, such as S. cerevisiae. The biomass has to be hydrolysed. The resultant hydrolysate is often a mixture of various monosaccharides and oligosaccharides, which may not all be suitable substrates for the wild-type micro-organism. Further, the hydrolysates typically comprise acetic acid, formed as a by-product in particular when hydrolysing pectin or hemicellulose, and—dependent on the type of hydrolysis—one or more other by-products or residual reagents that may adversely affect the fermentation. In particular, acetic acid has been reported to negatively affect the kinetics and/or stoichiometry of sugar fermentation by wild-type and genetically modified S. cerevisiae strains and its toxicity is strongly augmented at low culture pH (Helle et al. Enzyme Microb Technol 33 (2003) 786-792; Bellissimi et al. FEMS Yeast Res 9 (2009) 358-364).
Various approaches have been proposed to improve the fermentative properties of ethanol producing organisms by genetic modification, and to improve the hydrolysis process of the biomass. E.g. an overview of developments in the fermentative production of ethanol from biomass hydrolysates is given in a review by A. van Maris et al. (Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (2006) 90:391-418). Reference is made to various ways in which S. cerevisiae may be modified and to various methods of hydrolysing lignocellulosic biomass.
A major challenge relating to the stoichiometry of yeast-based ethanol production is that substantial amounts of glycerol are invariably formed as a by-product. It has been estimated that, in typical industrial ethanol processes, up to about 4 wt. % of the sugar feedstock is converted into glycerol (Nissen et al. Yeast 16 (2000) 463-474). Under conditions that are ideal for anaerobic growth, the conversion into glycerol may even be higher, up to about 10%.
Glycerol production under anaerobic conditions is primarily linked to redox metabolism. During anaerobic growth of S. cerevisiae, sugar dissimilation occurs via alcoholic fermentation. In this process, the NADH formed in the glycolytic glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase reaction is reoxidized by converting acetaldehyde, formed by decarboxylation of pyruvate to ethanol via NAD+-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase. The fixed stoichiometry of this redox-neutral dissimilatory pathway causes problems when a net reduction of NAD+to NADH occurs elsewhere in metabolism. Under anaerobic conditions, NADH reoxidation in S. cerevisiae is strictly dependent on reduction of sugar to glycerol. Glycerol formation is initiated by reduction of the glycolytic intermediate dihydroxyacetone phosphate to glycerol 3-phosphate, a reaction catalyzed by NAD+-dependent glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Subsequently, the glycerol 3-phosphate formed in this reaction is hydrolysed by glycerol-3-phosphatase to yield glycerol and inorganic phosphate. Consequently, glycerol is a major by-product during anaerobic production of ethanol by S. cerevisiae, which is undesired as it reduces overall conversion of sugar to ethanol. Further, the presence of glycerol in effluents of ethanol production plants may impose costs for waste-water treatment.
It is an object of the invention to provide a novel recombinant cell, which is suitable for the anaerobic, fermentative production of ethanol from a carbohydrate, in particular a carbohydrate obtained from lignocellulosic biomass, which has a reduced glycerol production compared to its corresponding wild-type organism or which lacks glycerol production if the cell is used for the fermentative preparation of ethanol.
It is further an object to provide a novel method for fermentatively preparing ethanol in anaerobic yeast cultures, in which method no glycerol is formed, or at least wherein less glycerol is formed than in a method making use of known strains of S. cerevisiae. 
One or more further objects that may be met are apparent from the description and/or claims.
The inventors have realized that it is possible to meet one or more of these objectives by providing a specific recombinant cell wherein a specific other enzymatic activity has been incorporated, which allows re-oxidation of NADH formed in the fermentation of a carbohydrate, also in the absence of enzymatic activity needed for the NADH-dependent glycerol synthesis.
Accordingly the present invention relates to a recombinant yeast cell, the cell comprising one or more recombinant, in particular one or more heterologous, nucleic acid sequences encoding an NAD+-dependent acetylating acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.1.10) activity.
The inventors have in particular realized that it is advantageous to provide a cell without enzymatic activity needed for the NADH-dependent glycerol synthesis or a cell with reduced enzymatic activity needed for the NADH-dependent glycerol synthesis.
Accordingly, the invention in particular relates to a recombinant yeast cell comprising one or more heterologous nucleic acid sequences encoding an NAD+-dependent acetylating acetaldehyde dehydrogenase activity, wherein the cell lacks enzymatic activity needed for the NADH-dependent glycerol synthesis (i.e. is free of such activity), or wherein the cell has a reduced enzymatic activity with respect to NADH-dependent glycerol synthesis compared to its corresponding wild-type yeast cell.
The invention is further directed to the use of a cell according to the invention for the preparation of ethanol.
In particular, the invention is further directed to a method for preparing ethanol, comprising preparing ethanol from a fermentable carbohydrate and from acetate, which preparation is carried out under anaerobic fermentative conditions using a yeast cell, said cell expressing acetyl-Coenzyme A synthetase activity and NAD+-dependent acetylating acetaldehyde dehydrogenase activity, said cell preferably lacking enzymatic activity needed for the biochemical pathway for glycerol synthesis from a carbohydrate or having a reduced enzymatic activity with respect to the biochemical pathway for glycerol synthesis from a carbohydrate compared to a wild-type S. cerevisiae cell.
Advantageously, in accordance with the invention ethanol is produced in a molar ratio of glycerol:ethanol of less than 0.04:1, in particular of less than 0.02:1, preferably of less than 0.01:1. Glycerol production may be absent (undetectable), although at least in some embodiments (wherein NADH-dependent glycerol synthesis is reduced yet not completely prohibited) some glycerol may be produced as a side-product, e.g. in a ratio glycerol to ethanol of 0.001:1 or more.